The Mind-Reader and The Super-Soldier
by YourUnintended
Summary: Claire might be the only person on this planet who could actually understand Steve Rogers and not just because she's a mind-reader. This is the story of how Steve came to love the mind-reader who looked just a little bit like his lost friend Bucky Barnes. (Takes place during CA:TWS, slightly AU, slightly X-Men crossover)
1. Chapter 1

She was good. Not like Natasha or Maria Hill good, but still good. She wasn't as agile or physically strong, but she did have one major advantage over them: her mind. Trained under Charles Xavier at this school, she learned how to control her abilities. She could hear other people's thoughts, even better than Xavier. The only drawback was that she could _always_ hear other people's thoughts. It was like standing in a crowded room with everyone talking all at once. When her powers first arose at age 8, they were simple, one mind at a time, no struggle. But then, during some freak accident she can't remember, her powers grew stronger and in turn worse. The professor found her abandoned on the streets by her coward of a father. He took her to his school upstate and tried to help her calm the voices. No matter how much he tried, how much he trained her, the voices still bombarded her mind, causing physical pain. After 3 days of intense pain in her skull and never ending nose-bleeds, the professor and some of his colleagues developed a device that could silence all the voices but the ones she actually wanted to hear. The device fit like hearing aides in her ears. With this she got better and was actually able to be a kid again.

She spent the next ten years of her life with Xavier, learning to control her powers and also learning like a normal student. Eventually she started to work at the school too, with other telekinetic kids and helped them to center and control their powers. No other student was ever quite as strong as she was at reading minds. Most kids needed a lot of training to control the voices and to hear them at great distances. Her hearing of other voices went for miles, 100 miles being the longest record so far. Because of this she was exceptionally good at keeping track of people, of finding students who were known to wander. The professor loved having her around.

It was only a matter of time before Nick Fury called and offered her a job at SHIELD. Xavier was the one who urged her to take it. She had grown quite attached to her job as a teacher and mentor/adoptive father, but did want to see more of the world than upstate New York. So she packed her bags and headed to DC. The professor was sad to see her go, his dearest daughter Claire.

Nick was very impressed with her. She was polite, had a good work ethic, and she was very, very good at her job. She could know exactly what the enemy was thinking and what they were going to do even before they had the chance to do it. Obviously things weren't foolproof though. She could keep tabs on SHIELD's greatest enemies, but she wasn't a fortune teller. She couldn't predict the actions of people she didn't watch. But Nick still loved having her around. She was much cheaper than having to send Hawkeye or Black Widow to check on certain people. She was especially good to have around when Dr. Banner hulked out and they couldn't seem to locate him without anyone having to get too close. She had grown so attuned to his thoughts she could pick him out easily.

Nick set her up with a nice place while she worked for him. A really nice apartment protected by an undercover SHIELD agent and oh yeah, a super-soldier. After "The Great Unfreeze" and the events in new York, Captain America moved to DC and effectively lived one floor above he. He was known to have some very noisy thoughts. She didn't mean to spy on him or hear his occasional crying session, but she still heard. He thought about his friend Bucky a lot. The friend he lost. The forgotten soldier buried in the snow. Steve dreamed about a train a lot. And he dreamed about losing Bucky every time. Sometimes Bucky would speak to him, but mostly he would just scream. And then Cap would wake with a jolt, soaked with sweat and gripping the streets. She could only hear his dreams when she would pass out with her still clicked to "on", which was significantly often. After work, her mind was usually so exhausted that the minute she stepped in the door of her apartment she headed straight for bed.

She had only heard his voice outside of his thoughts a handful of times. Mostly when they passed each other in the lobby at work or on the stairs in their apartment complex. But usually, they kept their distance. She knew what he thought when he looked at her.

"Jesus, even she _looks_ like him," he would think as he passed by her. It was mostly true. She did look a little bit like his lost friend. She had the same dark hair and the same blue/gray eyes. She was tall, too and of course he liked that. She didn't come across as a damsel in distress like most girls seemed to Steve these days. She held her head up high when she walked and mostly kept to herself. Steve couldn't figure out how deaf she was though. He noticed the hearing aides when she wore her hair up in a ponytail one time. She didn't speak like she had been deaf from birth and she didn't stare at people's lips when they talked like Clint did. She never acted like she was straining to hear what someone said. And he could've sworn he saw her wearing normal ear plugs one time, like the world was actually _too_ loud. Eventually he asked Clint about it.

"Do you ever go out without your hearing aide?" Steve asked between punches in their sparring match.

"Uh, sometimes," he huffed, sweat dripping from his temples, "It can be nice to not have to hear how noisy the city is."

"But, can you talk to a person without them?"

"I've gotten really good at reading lips, so sometimes. But, it's more comfortable for me to leave them in if I'm talking to people. Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Steve brushed and went to knock Clint's gloved hand.

"Uh-uh buddy, I think there is a reason. Is it a girl?" Clint quirked his eyebrow and smile suspiciously at Steve.

"What? No," Steve lied and continued to punch the gloves.

"Oh no way man, there totally is. I can feel it," Clint laughed.

"Fine. It's a girl. She lives in my building and I see her occasionally, but it's not like that. She just interests me because she doesn't seem, normal deaf, I don't know how to put it," Steve shrugged.

"Normal deaf? Isn't that kind of offensive?"

"I don't mean it like that," Steve huffed.

"You think she's faking it?" Clint asked.

"Maybe? I don't know why she would," Steve said.

"Me neither. Deaf people don't get nearly as much sympathy as blind people. Look at that Daredevil guy, I bet he has tons of girls dying at the chance to guide him around. If it was sympathy and date she was after, she shoulda put on some sunglasses and got herself a cane," Clint joked.

"Yeah," Steve silently agreed.

So he dropped it for awhile. Didn't bring up the potentially faking-deaf girl to Clint. But Clint of course did not forget. He asked Natasha about her and of course Natasha eventually looked up all of the tenants in the Captain's apartment complex and handed Clint a manila envelope full of her information. Clint thumbed through her information carefully, reading about her time with Xavier and her employment with Fury. But her medical records portion was blank. No mention of being deaf and no mention of why she wore the hearing aides. He brought her up to Steve again during one of their training sessions.

"How's the potentially not deaf chick?" He smirked in between squats. Steve only rolled his eyes at him.

"She's fine. Haven't seen her around much, been too busy."

"Right," Clint remarked, and then continued on, "You wanna do something tonight, man? Like beers and pizza maybe? Because our friendship does exist past the limit of missions and this gym."

"Yeah, alright. Sounds good. I'll be home around 6. I'll supply beer because I'm assuming you're very particular about pizza."

"Damn straight," Clint laughed, "I'll see you 6, then."

Of course Clint was late. Thirty minutes late with 2 pepperoni and mushrooms, the heat of the boxes slowly singeing the skin on his forearm. He saw her downstairs, knowing from her work schedule a la Natasha that should be getting home right around 6:30. He knew immediately that she was most definitely not deaf. But what wasn't obvious was why she was wearing the aids in the first place. He carefully timed his steps and his actions to end up on the same elevator ride us as her.

"Hey, you work for SHIELD, right?" He asked bluntly as soon as the elevator doors shut,

"Oh, uh, yes," she smiled, "You're Clint Barton, right? Hawkeye? I've seen you around a few times."

This got Clint smiling, "Why yes I am. Listen, I'm just about to have some pizza and beers with the Cap, did you wanna join us? We've got plenty of extra pizza."

"Uh," she hesitated. She had been looking forward to going home, putting her silent earbuds in and sleeping until Monday morning. But something felt right about going with Clint. Plus, her friend had been giving her a bunch of shit about not going out and seeing other people enough, so she figured why not. Especially if _Captain America_ was going to be there. "Sure. I'd love to."

Clint smiled back widely at her, "Awesome." And then they both got off at Cap's floor and she followed him to his door.

When they knocked on the door it opened almost immediately with a very grumpy, very tight shirt-wearing Cap in the doorway, "Ugh, it's about damn time, I was so hungry I-," he griped and then immediately snapped his mouth shut when he saw _her._

"Sorry man, there was a huge line at the pizza place. Anyway, hope you don't mind I invited your neighbor to dinner with us. Did you know she also works with us at SHIELD? Such a small world," Clint said with a shit-eating grin. He was enjoying watching the Captain squirm way too much. Steve was visibly uncomfortable by the presence of the neighbor he had sort of been obsessing over recently.

"No, I did not," Steve said almost between his teeth. And then he remembered his manners, "Please come in."

She followed closely behind Clint into the Captain's apartment that looked like something out of time. All of the fixtures looked like they belonged in an old folks home. The furniture and the decorations were all artifacts of the forties. It shouldn't have surprised as much as it did.

"Kitchen's this way," Steve motioned and they followed him.

"You got a rooftop in this place?" Clint asked, digging in the fridge for the 6-pack of beer Steve had just bought on his way home.

"Uh, yeah, no one really goes up there though..." Steve trailed.

"Perfect, let's go up there," Clint said, grabbing the beers and waiting for Steve to grab the pizzas. Claire just stood quietly watching them and hearing the thoughts running through their heads. The Captain was obviously flustered and his thoughts matched. She knew that he had been thinking of her a lot, she knew that he thought she looked like his lost friend. She also knew that he was suspicious of her hearing aides. She wanted to tell him, she did, but she was afraid that if she knew about her mind-reading he might feel horribly embarrassed.

"Alright," Steve finally agreed and the three of them went to the elevator up to the roof.

It wasn't nearly as awkward as Claire thought it would be. Once the boys got some pizza and beer into them, the conversation flowed easily between everyone. And it was only a matter of time until Clint had enough beers and got brave enough to finally ask Claire. She saw it coming. Well, _heard_ it coming.

"So, are you actually deaf, Claire? Because Steve and I have been debating over it for the past month," Clint blurted and Steve's blood began to practically boil with embarrassment.

"Claire, please, you don't have to answer that. And please excuse my dear idiot friend for being so blunt," Steve apologized.

"It's fine, I knew it would come up eventually."

"Aha! So you're not deaf?" Clint howled, slapping his knee.

"No, I'm not," Claire grimaced.

"So, why wear them?" Steve asked carefully.

"Well, they actually do serve a person. It's true, I can hear perfectly fine, maybe, uh, a little too fine? I, um," Claire stuttered, she was extremely nervous for their reactions.

"I can read minds. Like, everyone's within 100 miles. But, it's too intense for me, so I was given these devices to help block out most of the thoughts," she explained.

"Shit," she heard both of them say. There minds were racing, Steve's faster than Clint's buzzed one.

"So you can hear our thoughts?" Clint finally asked.

"Yep."

"All the time?" Steve asked and Claire stiffened.

"Yes," Clint was already over the embarrassment as he reached for his 5th slice of pizza, but Steve was still bothered.

"I'm sorry," Claire started, "I try to not listen when I know it's very personal. And I do have the ability to turn them off and I do that as frequently as I can."

"Claire, it's fine, it's not your fault," Steve said but she still felt bad.

"Wait, tell us more, how does it work? How did you get this ability?" Clint asked through a mouthful of pizza.

"Um, when I was 8 I noticed my powers. Charles Xavier, my adoptive father, said that I was what he called a Mutant. When I was 10, something happened, I can't quite remember, but the voices suddenly got really loud and I couldn't tune any of them out. It was awful, it felt like my head was going to explode and eventually I just blacked out. Next thing I know I wake up in upstate New York in Xavier's office with no memory of how I got there."

"Where did you live before then?" Steve asked.

"With my real father. He was a scientist. I asked Xavier about him many times but he said that he just couldn't take care of me anymore. Xavier was a wonderful father to me after that," Claire sniffed.

"And your mother?"

"We presume she's dead."

"I'm sorry," Clint and Steve both said.

"It's fine, guys. It's in the past now. Plus, the time I spent with Xavier was better than any time I spent with my father."

"You mentioned that something happened that worsened your powers, but you have no memory of it?" Steve asked incredulously.

"Yeah, none at all. One day I could just hear thoughts when I wanted to and then the next I could hear everyone's and I couldn't turn it off," Claire explained.

"And it causes you physical pain?" Clint asked.

"Yeah, I can't not wear my devices for more than a few seconds at a time or else," Claire explained, thinking about the terrible crushing pain in her head she gets when her aides get knocked out or she takes them out to clean them.

 _Interesting. I wonder if she showers with them on…_ Clint thought.

"Yes. They're waterproof," she answered.

"Shit. That is creeeeepy," Clint swore.

"Sorry. It's rare that I am able to just respond to people's thoughts," she smiled shyly.

"Right," Clint agreed, "Well, I better get out of here before the Cap tries to get me more drunk."

"Um, I did not force you to have 4 beers?" Steve said questioningly to which Clint only laughed.

"I will see you guys later then," he said and headed towards the elevator. _Perfect, now that I'm gone, maybe Steve will grow some balls and get some._

"You know exactly why he left," Steve said blandly.

"Yeahhhh," Claire drew.

"Guess nothing is really a secret anymore," Steve sighed.

"That's not true! I can switch aides if it would make you more comfortable," Claire suggested.

"No, it's fine. Maybe it'll be easier this way," Steve said and then they were both quiet for a beat.

"You know about him, don't you?" Steve asked her, Bucky flashing across his thoughts.

"Yes," she answered simply. "He haunts you, doesn't he?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright. If every other part of my body can heal, that eventually will too," Steve remarked, moving his position, leaning against the wall, overlooking the city and wringing his hands.

"That's a very positive way of thinking about it," Claire remarked and matched his posture. They sat like that for a while, his thoughts bouncing around and she responded to them whenever he wanted her too. And then, right as the sun was setting and the light caught her eyes at the right angle, he kissed her. His first kiss since the 40's, her first since she left Xavier's school. They kissed for a few minutes, until their breath came out in pants and the sky had grown dark. And like the gentleman he was, he walked her to her door, placed one more gentle kiss on her reddened lips, and then left.

 **A/N:**

 **Hello friends! This is my first fanfiction that I'm actually posting, so please go gentle on me! I of course love Captain America, and this little project has been brewing in my head for some time now. It originally started out as what if Steve and Bucky go on missions all the time for SHIELD and The Avengers but they also had a kick ass girl with them because why not. I originally just wrote little one shots about the trio but then Claire started to get her own story and her own ideals and soon enough she needed her own story. Bonus because her story also addresses how she is involved with the boys. My plan with this is to go through the events of TWS and how they met, how they got together, etc etc. Eventually there will be a sequel that focuses on the events post-AOU and up to the events from the bonus scene post-credits of Ant Man, then the story will go off on it's own. I have high hopes to get most of the story including it's sequel before the events of Civil War come out next May because I guarantee it will ruin my story. Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope to update as frequently as I can considering it is time-sensitive. (The story actually is completely written my posting is based on when I get the chance to transcribe it from my notebook to my laptop and proofread for grammatical and continuation errors)**


	2. Chapter 2

Steve didn't see Claire much after that night. They were both just too busy. He was on mission after mission, running dangerously on empty. And Fury had her watching more people than ever before, leaving with her migraines so bad that when she went home she was dead to the world. So they only saw each other in lobbies and elevators, making gentle small talk. And then it happened.

She was exhausted mentally and physically. She had just come back from a tactical training session with her new BFF Clint Barton, who had taken it on himself personally to make sure she knew how to fight. On top of that, she had been extending her range and listening to more thoughts than ever, keep more tabs than she thought was physically possible. So she came home that day from work, snapped her blinds shut, took OTC painkillers that would only tickle at the pain in her head, and headed straight for bed. Her shoes were barely off, her numb fingers fidgeting with the off switch on her hearing aides when she heard something bizarre.

Pain, pain, pain. Someone was in pain. And close by. She scanned the thoughts of the residence around her apartment until she landed on the one right above her. _Director Fury_ she recognized. He was holding his arm limply against his chest as he sat in an arm chair waiting for Steve to get home. She had to do something, warn Steve, help Fury, something. So she begrudgingly put her shoes back on, left her hearing aides on, and headed up the stairs. She rounded the corner when she picked up two voices.

Sharon Carter was holding a basket of fake laundry in her hand talking to Steve. Claire didn't necessarily mind Sharon, she had the best intentions, she might have even liked her, except for mild obsession with Steve's body. That was the worst part about her powers, hearing those embarrassing thoughts.

"Do you- uh, maybe wanna get a cup of coffee some time?" He asked, chiding himself for fumbling over his words. Claire was slightly offended then she heard the turmoil of his thoughts. Apparently Natasha had been giving him a lot of shit about not going on any dates and Steve, being Steve, wanted to make everyone happy. He thought about asking Claire, he really did, but it was too hard for him, she looked too much like his _him_. Looking at Claire just hurt. So to satiate Natasha, he went for Sharon, bubbly, blond, if not boring, Sharon. Too bad Steve didn't know how not boring Sharon actually was. Steve had no idea that Sharon was an undercover agent, but Claire definitely did. She felt bad too, like she was somehow keeping this knowledge from Steve. But she was afraid to tell him, afraid of how he would react to the idea of someone constantly watching him to make sure he doesn't have the Captain America version of "hulking out." Fury also begged Claire to keep quiet. About a lot of things actually.

Just then Sharon rejected him (Fury would kill her for trying to date her mission), Steve felt nothing but relief and then turned to go inside. Claire then moved from her position hiding behind the corner to go to him, to warn him, when Sharon ran into her.

"Claire! Hey! How are you doing?" Her voice was irritatingly kind.

"I'm fine, how are you, Sharon?" Claire responded as politely as she could manage. There was too much going on for her to have to waste time making small talk.

"I'm doing great. Hey, we should have another girl's night, you, me, a bottle of wine, and a collection of Channing Tatum movies?" Sharon giggled. Sometimes she was girlier than Claire could even imagine. Claire knew that Sharon didn't actually care too much for Channing Tatum, or chick flicks, she just wanted an excuse to have Claire over. Ever since they met Sharon has had a slight obsession with Claire. A spy meeting a mind reader, the possibilities were endless. And to be perfectly honest, Claire didn't actually mind the attention, or the friendship. Since she left Xavier's school she hadn't made many friends, she was simply too busy. It didn't bother her that much, she enjoyed the solitude from people most of the time. If Claire was going to have any girl friends in DC, at least it got to be Sharon.

"Yes, we should. I've been kind of busy at work recently, but what about next Friday?" Claire suggested but later planned on cancelling.

"Perfect! Friday works for me! I'll see you then!" She said and then started to walk away and Claire pressed on towards Steve's apartment.

"Oh wait, Claire!" Sharon called and Claire immediately whipped around. She was stalling. Sharon was extremely curious about why Claire was going to Steve's apartment, but she didn't want to give it away. "White or red?" She asked, her teeth sparkling. Claire gritted her teeth. She didn't like wine, it gave her a migraine.

"White," Claire finally smiled and then turned back to Steve's apartment. Sharon was not satisfied, she planned on calling SHIELD to report that Claire was trying to interfere with Steve. Claire knew she had to act fact so she threw his door open and was greeted by two shocked face.

Steve was tense. Fury in his house. In his chair. Trying to convince him of something. And when Claire bursted through the door he was so on edge he was surprised he didn't attack her. Instead, himself and Fury gaped at her for a moment before returning to their conversation. Claire politely joined them and waited for the moment to speak.

"Steve, you've met Claire before, correct?" Fury asked and then met Claire's eyes, his brain pouring over the events from the afternoon, the car accident, the man with the painted eyes. Claire had to stabilize herself against the back of the couch as the images flooded her mind.

"Yes, we've met," Steve said and his thoughts floated to that night on the rooftop.

"Good. Now listen carefully, you can trust Claire, she's special, she's the best person for this j-" And then Fury was cut off by the loud sound of bullets penetrating the air and piercing through his torso. Steve acted quickly, throwing himself and his shield in front of Claire, who only looked at him with distant eyes.

She picked up his thoughts only seconds before he shot Fury. His thoughts were a hurricane of violence and blood, every thought was tinged with red. It shocked her to her core.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked, his hands flitting around her face, checking for injury.

"I'm fine," Claire choked out and then raised her frantic eyes to the assassin outside the window. Steve's eyes followed the path of hers and saw him too. And then they both heard the door crash open and Sharon's voice fill the room.

"Captain?" Sharon shouted and then Nick Fury's body on the ground. She immediately went to him, assessing his wounds and calling for backup. Her eyes were on Steve as he slipped into action, grabbing his shield and heading towards the shooter.

"Tell them I'm in pursuit," he said and headed through the window.

"Steve, no!" Claire hissed and ran after him. Except there was no way she would be able to jump through the window like he could so she flew out of his apartment and up the stairs.

She made it to roof just in time to see Steve throw his shield and for the shooter to catch it. She was still a building away from him, so she booked it to the edge and prepared to jump. It was only a few feet, 4 at the most, easily manageable. But terrifying. Definitely terrifying. But Steve was in trouble, he couldn't hear the violent, merciless thoughts of the masked shooter, she had to help him, protect him, save him, whatever it took. So she got a running start and mustered all of her courage to leap across and landed ungracefully on her hands. As soon as she stood up the assassin noticed her and made his leave, throwing Steve's shield back to him and leaving. Steve moved to pursue but was interrupted by Claire's voice.

"Steve, no!" Claire shouted, winded from her chase, "Don't. Don't go after him, it's not safe."

"He tried to kill the director," Steve said, moving closer to Claire, an argument forming in his thoughts.

"I know, but please, not now, it's not safe, he's too dangerous," Claire begged, tears pricking her eyes.

"I don't think that's your call to make."

"Please trust me on this, Steve," Claire said, her face falling.

"So when?"

"Later. Right now we have to make sure Fury is okay," she said and then it was Bucky all over again. Bucky protecting him from bullies. Bucky pulling him out fights. Bucky and Claire were the same person. Steve couldn't tell where Bucky ended and where Claire began, it was blur, the two of them morphed into one. Steve couldn't take it, emotion bubbled up inside of him and his brain was starting to hurt.

"Come on, Steve. It'll be okay," Claire said quietly, offering Steve a hand. He took it because it seemed like the only piece of reality to keep his mind from slipping out of time.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Hi friends! Thank you for being patient for this update! Like I said before the story is finished but I like being able to take extra time and revise and edit chapters before I post them. I was going to wait to post this until I was more ahead of editing chapters but after watching the Civil War trailer I just had to post this (it killed me, my poor lil Steve and Bucky). Anyway, please do enjoy!

Claire felt out of place. She was tucked into the corner while Natasha, Steve, and Maria Hill watched Fury's operation. It felt like such a private moment and she was merely a pest. She turned her hearing aides off before they got into the room, she knew everyone's thoughts would be too reflective and personal for them to want her to hear. But having the voices off was just as uncomfortable as having them on. Sure, the migraine slowly started to seep away and her body felt a little stronger, but it was uncomfortable not being able to hear people's thoughts. Mind-reading had become like a 6th sense for her, relying on it even more than her actual hearing. Without it she felt useless.

"I'll find him Natasha," Steve vowed, the USB in his pocket was burning. He needed answers. Why was Claire involved? Why had Fury insisted that Claire was the only person he could trust? And who was that man on the roof? Steve wanted to ask Claire, but he was still frightened by how quickly she had shown up in his apartment and how she managed to calm him down on the roof. So he would settle for going to SHIELD for a few answers.

"I'll be back," Steve said and stalked out the door, Claire on his heels.

"Why did Fury say I could trust you? How much do you know?" Steve asked her, his voice not the warm kind one she was used to. This wasn't Steve anymore. It was Captain America.

"I don't know! I've been helping Fury watch a few people recently with plans to compromise SHIELD but nothing ever came up, everyone was either out of my range or blocking my powers, we're not really sure how," Claire explained, her pulse quickening.

"You're coming with me to SHIELD then," Steve said, placing a hand on her arm and leading him to the parking garage with his bike. He handed her the only helmet he had and waited for her to get on the back of the bike. She didn't understand why he was so upset, it's not like he was Nick's biggest fan. She wanted to turn her ears back on but she was too busy holding on for dear life as Steve weaved through the streets towards SHIELD.

…

Claire waited patiently outside Pierce's office while Steve spoke with him. Of course she could hear the whole conversation, but only from Steve's side. For some reason, she couldn't hear any of Pierce's thoughts, whenever she tried it was just silence. This wasn't the first time this had happened to her. The first time being her encounter with Magneto, one of Professor X's old friend-turned-enemy, who wore a dark helmet that blocked her from hearing any of his thoughts. She was young when it happened, only 10, had barely even been with the professor that long.

 _Years ago…_

 _Charles had many friends that Claire had come to know. Besides the typical cast of friends who lived in the mansion with them, he had other friends who would come from all over the world to have a cup of tea with him. Charles introduced each one of them to Claire, fondly referring to her as his daughter when they would glance at her. So when Charles came to Claire one late summer evening with the news of a guest, she wasn't surprised._

" _My dearest Claire, I have a special guest coming over later this evening. He is one of my oldest friends, but he isn't like us," the professor said._

" _Isn't like us? He is not a mutant?" A young Claire asked._

" _No dear, he_ is _a mutant, but he doesn't have quite the same beliefs as we do," the professor explained and flashes of their tumultuous friendship flashed across his mind and effectively across Claire's._

" _How can you still call him your friend after everything he has done?" Claire asked, appalled._

" _Claire, I know you can see what he has done to me, but you will never be able to feel how I feel about him," the professor sighed._

" _No, I won't. How could you forgive him? For taking your legs from you? From taking Raven?" Claire asked, feeling a bit naive._

" _Because I knew what he had gone through, I knew_ him _. It is very hard to explain, maybe you can understand better when you meet him."_

" _I will try to be open-minded professor," Claire promised._

" _I know you will," the professor smiled brightly at her._

 _Magneto came through a separate door into the professor's wing of the mansion because Charles didn't want to alarm anyone with Erik's presence. They greeted each other with warm smiles and a handshake._

" _It's been too long old friend," Magneto said warmly._

" _It has," the professor agreed._

" _What has prompted such a reunion?" Magneto asked calmly while taking a seat in front of Charles._

" _I wanted to speak with you about a few things. But first, I wanted you to meet someone very special to me," the professor said, gesturing to a fragile Claire who had hidden herself behind the professor. Magneto was shocked to see the little dark-haired girl behind Charles._

" _A new mutant? This isn't exactly exciting news, Charles," Magneto laughed cruelly._

" _You have misunderstood Erik, this is Claire, my adopted daughter. She is a mutant like us, a mind-reader actually."_

" _Where did you find her?" Magneto asked calmly._

" _That's why I have asked you here, I was hoping that maybe you would have some insight on that. But we can talk about it later. Claire, please introduce yourself," Charles said and Claire timidly stepped forward._

" _Hello dear," Erik said, a hand extended for her to shake. Claire stared at his hand and then narrowed her eyes at his helmet. She couldn't hear his thoughts and it felt foreign to her._

" _Ah, you're trying to read my mind. Well, I'm afraid that while I wear this, you will be unable to hear my thoughts," Erik smiled which only made Claire stare harder._

" _My dear Claire, his helmet was one of the main pieces of inspiration for your aides," Charles said to her._

" _Really?" She asked delicately._

" _Yes, you see, his helmet keeps my mind out, and your aides keep other minds out. His helmet is special, it's protection, just like your aides."_

" _Aides?" Erik asked puzzled._

" _Yes, Erik, my dear Claire is very special. She is a very powerful mind-reader, more powerful than myself, perhaps a little too powerful. When we first found her she could hear every mind for miles away. It caused her a tremendous amount of pain, but we created a device that helped filter out all but one mind at a time, using the technology of your helmet," Charles explained._

" _Fascinating. We truly do have a lot to talk about," Erik said pensively. The evening went on much like that, questions asked and various people answering. Mostly Charles and Erik spoke, but occasionally Claire chimed in. Overall, it was an evening Claire had never forgotten, it was her first experience with a quiet mind._

As she thought back to her first encounter with a quiet mind, Steve came out quickly and tugged her arm to leave. She followed him down the hallway and into the elevator without saying a word.

"What's going on?" She finally asked.

"What did you hear?" Steve countered.

"Nothing, Pierce's mind is dead-silent."

"That's what I feared. I know he's hiding something from me and I was hoping that you could get the information, but I should've known he would've figured out some way to block you. Has this happened to you before?" Steve asked.

"Only once and he was wearing a helmet especially designed to block mind-readers. And from your thoughts I saw that he definitely wasn't wearing a helmet," Claire sighed.

"Exactly."

"Which means he does have some sort of technology capable of keeping me out. Meaning he knows I'm involved in this…" Claire said gravely.

"Don't worry, Claire. I will keep you safe," Steve said fiercely, his hands squeezing her shoulders comfortingly.

Their moment was interrupted by the elevator doors opening and none other than Brock Rumlow entering. Claire jumped away from Steve, to look uninvolved, innocent. Rumlows eyes roamed over Steve in his uniform and then quickly glanced over to Claire.

"Cap," Rumlow remarked.

"Rumlow," Steve said lowly.

"Evidence Response found some fibers on the roof they want us to see. You want me to get the Tac team ready?" Rumlow asked arrogantly. Steve only narrowed his eyes.

" _Great, he's got the mind-reader with him...two birds, one stone…"_ Rumlow thought to himself, his mind floating to thoughts of cuffing her and watching him kill the Captain in front of her.

"No, let's wait and see what it is first," Steve responded, analyzing Brock's posture, he was too rigid, too coiled, like a lion preparing to attack.

They had only went down one floor when the doors opened again and more, larger men poured into the elevator, effectively pressing Claire tighter against Steve, her body remained rigid in fear. She had to warn Steve, had to tell him what they had in store for him. But he already knew, nimbly tucking Claire behind him and looking at her intensely for a brief moment.

"Before we get started, would anyone like to get out?" Steve asked calmly. Then hell broke loose. Bodies were rioting and crashing into each other with force loud enough that it sounded like thunder. Claire tried to stay out of the way as much as possible, forcing herself to become smaller and smaller and tuck herself into the corner. Rumlow wasn't a fan of that. While the other men attempted to wrestle Steve against the wall and cuff him with magnetic wristbands, Rumlow danced with Claire.

"Claire: the mind-reader, right?" Rumlow smirked. Claire was rigged, frightened, Brock's thoughts were sinister and sadistic, picturing exactly how he was going to take her down. He then attempted to make his first swipe at her but underestimated just how much she heard, she ducked out of the way just into time that his body slammed into the glass of the elevator and missed her.

"Come here you bitch!" Brock shouted and brought his fist to nail her in the cheek. Taking what she learned from Clint, she moved her face a fraction so that Brock missed her and staggered, she took that opportunity to clip him in the ribs with her fist. Brock let out an angry huff and looked at her with menacing eyes.

"You're gonna pay for that!" He said and started charging towards her, but was caught by Steve instead. During their scuffle, Claire hadn't even noticed that Steve had single-handedly manage to neutralize all of the attackers in the elevator minus Brock. Although, he wasn't even a match for Steve, falling to the ground after a very brief skirmish with Steve.

"Did he hurt you?" Steve asked worriedly, looking over Claire's body for any damage.

"I'm completely fine," she said but saw the few cuts on Steve's cheek, "but you aren't."

"It's nothing. We have to figure a way out of here," Steve said and then moved to open the elevator doors. Claire hadn't even noticed that the elevator was brought to a stop at the beginning of the fight. He quickly shut the doors back after only opening it a few inches, Claire heard the thoughts of the swat team that was heading their way.

"Steve, we're completely surrounded, there's no way out of here," Claire said gravely, picking through the minds of those in the building that had only one mission: take down that Captain at whatever means necessary, bonus points if you get the mind-reader as well.

Steve rejected her assessment and instead used his shield to clip the thick wires that were holding the elevator on that level and sent them crashing down a few floors. Steve then went to look out the glass of the elevator, analyzing the height of the fall and the damage he would take getting to the ground.

" _We're going to have to jump,"_ Steve thought, his eyes still sizing up the fall.

"No! No way!" Claire responded to Steve's thoughts.

"We have to, it's the only way out of here. I promised you I would keep you safe, didn't I?" Claire didn't respond, she just gulped at the sight of how high up they were.

"It'll be a breeze. I'm going to break the glass with my shield, we will jump, you hold on tight to my side and we'll go through the roof and I'll break our fall with the shield."

"Steve, that's crazy you're going to get hurt," Claire said, nibbling nervously on her bottom lip.

"Nonsense, I will be fine. Come on, we have to go now," Steve said urgently and broke the thick glass with his shield. He then hoisted himself on the bar and held his hand for Claire to grab. She secured himself on his side, digging her fingers into his uniform, finding any purchase to hold on. Steve looked at her comfortingly one last time and then jumped out.

They fell for only a few seconds before colliding with the glass and then hitting the ground with a hard crack. The force of impact sent Claire tumbling far away from Steve, her body rolling over the broken glass, coating her skin with tiny, painful cuts. Steve stayed in the fetal position on his shield for a few brief moments, trying to catch his breath after it was knocked out of him.

Claire was still stunned, her ribs hurt a little from colliding with Steve on impact and her skin on her back and arm felt like it was on fire. Steve recovered quickly and then went to help Claire up, mindful of the shocked faces of the SHIELD agents in the lobby. Steve asked her briefly in his head if she was alright and she merely nodded. They were then off running towards the parking garage where Steve had left his bike. Claire waited patiently for Steve to put the helmet on her and climb on.

"No way I'm taking you with me. They're looking for me now. I'll help you hotwire a car and I will meet you at the hospital. Go straight there and see if you can get a nurse to help you get the glass out of your skin," Steve instructed.

"But Steve-"

"No. I'll be fine, I will meet you there." And with that he helped her hotwire a large pickup truck that Claire thought was ridiculous for her to drive. But right before he left he briefly looked into her eyes and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. He tasted like blood and sweat.


	4. Chapter 4

Claire walked into the emergency room with blood trickling down her back and a grimace cemented into her face. She walked up to the front desk and spoke gently, "hello, I had a little accident, I was wondering if I could get some assistance?"

The nurse running the desk seemed alarmed by the amount of crimson splotches that decorated the white shirt Claire was wearing and quickly ushered her into a room. After a few moments of waiting an impatient-looking nurse helped her pull her ruined shirt off and picked all of the glass out of her left arm and back. Claire lost count of how many _plink plink plink_ 's of glass came out of her flesh and hit the metal collection bowl. Although Claire was prepared with an elaborate story of falling through her backdoor. She didn't need it, the bored nurse never asked. The nurse quickly slathered on an antibiotic ointment, applied stitches to those deep enough to require them, bandaged her up, and sent her away. Eventually Steve showed up, a bruise blooming on his jaw and a frustrated look in his eyes.

"The USB is missing," he said bitterly, "I left it right behind the bubble gum in the vending machine and now it's gone." He looked like he was going to punch something.

"No it's not. Natasha has it. And she's looking for you, she wants to talk," Claire said, picking up Natasha's mind 2 floors above her.

"You are extremely useful," Steve smiled.

"I try," Claire said coyly and led Steve towards Natasha.

They found her popping pink bubblegum at them with a smirk on her face. Steve wasted no time pushing her into an empty exam room and barking questions at her. Claire followed them in there quietly, making sure no one saw them.

"Where is it?" Steve growled.

"Safe."

"Do better," Steve threatened.

"Where did you get it?" Natasha retorted.

"Why would I tell you?"

"Fury gave it to you, why?"

"What's on it?"

"I don't know."

"Stop lying," Steve yelled, pushing Natasha harder against the wall making Claire gasp. Steve broke his intense eye contact with Natasha to glance at Claire reassuringly. _I'm sorry,_ Steve thought to Claire, who jutted her chin towards Natasha, _apologize to her_.

"I only act like I know everything, Rogers," Natasha struggled against his grip, so he loosened it slightly, to erase the worry that was etched into Claire's face.

"I bet you knew Fury hired the pirates, didn't you?"

"Well, it makes sense. The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in, so do you."

"I'm not gonna ask you again-"

Natasha cut him off, "I know who killed Fury." Steve looked at her suspiciously and then to Claire who nodded at him to let her continue.

"Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists. The ones that do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last 50 years."

"So, he's a ghost story?" Steve interrupted her.

"Five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Somebody shot out my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer so he shot him straight through me. Soviet slug. No rifling. Bye-bye bikinis," Natasha smirked and lifted up her shirt to show them the shiny puckered skin of a scar that rested just next to her hip bone.

"Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now," Steve grumbled at her.

"Going after him is a dead-end," Natasha said seriously and added, "I know, I've tried."

"Like you said, he's a ghost story. Well, let's find out what the ghost wants."

…

"I want you to stay in the car," Steve said to Claire as they pulled into a parking spot at the mall.

"What? No way, you need me," Claire countered.

"Not in there. As soon as I plug this in," Natasha said, motioning to the USB, "they're gonna find us. We need a getaway driver to be waiting for us," she said with a warm smile. Claire sighed and then finally agreed, reading only the best intentions within their thoughts.

"We'll be back as soon as possible," Steve promised and then looked at Claire seriously for a moment before following Natasha.

"So you and Claire, huh?" Natasha asked when they were out of earshot.

"You know she can still hear you, right?"

"Yeah, but I want to know about this," Natasha pressed.

"There is no this, it's just-it's nothing."

"It doesn't look like nothing," Natasha teased.

"Well maybe it's not nothing, but it's definitely none of your business," Steve said quickening his pace through the crowded mall. He hated this mall. Sure, he had been here a few times at the insistence of his co-workers like Natasha and Clint, but he still didn't get the novelty. He didn't quite get why there were so many stores in just one building and why no matter what day or time it was, it was _always_ busy. But he really didn't get it because it was out of his time, something he would never understand like twitter or sweaters for dogs.

"Touchy. You must really like her," Natasha smirked.

"I like her, but I don't know, it's not exactly easy for me to date. It's kind of hard to find someone with shared-life experience. But Claire, she just gets it, she understands. I think it has a lot to do with her handy mind-reading skills, but I think it's more than that too."

"So you've thought about this a lot?"

"Ever since-" Steve started, considering his words. He was about to say _ever since Bucky died,_ but he caught himself and restarted, "Ever since I woke up, it's just been a little tough to come back. And after New York I was overwhelmed by everything. Brooklynn wasn't my city anymore, so when Fury offered this job in D.C. I had to go, to get away. I met Claire shortly after I moved here and I don't know, it was just nice. She didn't throw herself at me like all of these other girls, she was just nice and she didn't push me. Although I think I screwed it all up when I didn't talk to her for a couple weeks after we kissed."

"You kissed her and didn't talk to her for a couple of weeks?" Natasha asked incredulously.

"I-I," Steve stuttered looking for his excuse, "we were both busy."

"Steve!" Natasha chastised him, "the poor girl! And here I was giving you shit for not asking girls out but you were just kissing them and ignoring them."

"Just one! I've only been kissing Claire. Jeez Natasha, you're making me sound like some sort of scum bag…"

"That was sort of a scummy move, Steve. But, it's fine, she's apparently forgiven you. And wait, speaking of, why is Claire involved in any of this at all?"

"She lives in my building and she sort of heard Fury's assassination in the middle of my apartment."

"Ah," Natasha said and then pulled Steve into the Apple Store that she had been furiously looking for in-between getting the juicy details from Steve. Natasha plugged the USB into the first Macbook she saw and started working her magic.

"The drive has a Level Six homing program, so as soon as we boot up SHIELD will know exactly where we are."

"How much time will we have?" Steve asked, looking over his shoulder for any agents.

"About nine minutes from now," she answered and intently clacked her fingers against the keyboard. After a few moments she spoke again, "Fury was right about that ship. Somebody's trying to hide something. This drive is protected by some sort of AI. It keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands."

"Can you override it?"

"The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me," she said and then added, "slightly."

"I'm gonna try running a tracer. This is a program that SHIELD developed to track hostile malware, so if we can't read the fire, maybe we can find out where it came from."

"Can I help you guys with anything?" They were interrupted by a burly man with long blond hair and a matching blond beard.

"Oh no. My fiance was just just helping me with some honeymoon destinations," Natasha gushed, even going so far to clap her hands around Steve's shoulder affectionately.

"Right. We're getting married," Steve said uncomfortably, his thoughts flashing to Claire as a blush crept up his face, Natasha almost laughed. Almost.

"Congratulations! Where are you guys thinking about going?" The overly helpful Apple Genius asked.

Steve panicked and looked at the location screen and blurted, "New Jersey."

"Oh," he said and then narrowed his eyes at Steve like he recognized him. Steve shifted uncomfortably, quickly pondering an escape route before the Genius continued, "I have the exact same glasses."

"Wow, you two are practically twins," Natasha said blandly as Steve relaxed his posture. They were safe. For now.

"Yeah, I wish," the Genius laughed and then gestured to Steve's chest, "Specimen. Anyway, if you guys need anything, I've been Aaron."

"Thank you."

"You said nine minutes, come on," Steve urged Natasha.

"Relax," she brushed him off… "Got it."

Steve narrowed his eyes at the coordinates, not believing that it was actually what he thought it was.

"You know it?"

"I used to. Let's go," Steve said and grabbed the USB from the machine. They exited the store quickly and thankfully Natasha didn't bombard Steve with incessant questions about his dating life.

When they were on the escalator Natasha spotted Rumlow and quickly turned around to Steve and said, "kiss me."

"What?" Steve asked, stunned.

"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable."

"Yes, they do," Steve agreed but Natasha cut him off with her lips, pulling him tightly against her body, effectively making Rumlow look away from them. When they broke Natasha's eyes danced but Steve was still stunned.

"Still uncomfortable?"

"It's not exactly the word I'd use," Steve said bitterly and immediately thought of Claire.

They made it back to the car without another incident requiring Natasha to invade Steve's personal space. Claire was already waiting in the driver's seat, ready to speed off it they needed it, but they were casual. Steve was still flushed from Natasha's kiss and she still had a smirk on her face.

"Alright, that's the location you need to go to," Natasha said to Steve, handing him the scrap of paper with the coordinates on it.

"You're not coming with us?" Claire asked disappointed.

"I'm afraid not. I have some other business to attend to. I think you two can handle this just fine without me," Natasha said with a smirk and then headed off in the other direction.

"What was all of that about?" Claire asked as Steve got in the passenger seat.

"Natasha kissed me," Steve blurted which only made Claire laugh hard.

"I know," she giggled, to which Steve widened his eyes at.

"That's right."

"Mind-reader, remember?"

"Even from that far away?" Steve asked to which Claire only nodded as she pulled out of the parking garage and headed towards the freeway.

"100 miles is about how far away I can hear a mind."

"That's right. You told me this, I just-It's still a little peculiar to me," Steve said and then saw the drop in Claire's face. He then added, "not in a bad way! Just- I'm still getting used to a lot of things about this time and about you…"

They stayed quiet for a little bit after that, only speaking when Steve gave her directions towards the coordinates. Eventually Steve couldn't take it anymore, he had to say something about the conversation he had with Natasha that Claire had definitely overheard.

"Claire, I like you, I really do, but I'm rusty with this. It's been a long time-"

She cut him off, "Steve, I know. God do I know. I don't have any expectations about this or us, I'm just happy to be here with you."

The look on her face was so genuine and sweet it hurt Steve's heart. Her bright blue eyes and her warm brown hair made his vision swim, he looked at her and he saw two people. He saw his friend, Bucky, his only friend, his whole world. And then he saw Claire, sweet, innocent, lovely Claire.

"I know you see him when you look at me," Claire whispered, her eyes locked on the road.

"I'm sorry."

"There's no need to apologize, I definitely see the resemblance. But Steve, his ghost does not possess my body. I am not Bucky and I never will be."

"I know that," Steve muttered.

"And I like you Steve-God, I like you. But I can't be with you if you see someone else every time you look at me."

"It's not every time," Steve whispered, "I like you a lot too Claire, even if we don't know each other that well. But I don't know if I am in any position to start a relationship with you."

"I know that. Like I said before, I'm just happy to be here," Claire smiled at Steve.

"But that won't always be enough."

"Maybe not, but it's enough for now. And hey, with the way things are going, maybe we're only going to get now," Claire joked.

"That's not funny," Steve said and then his thoughts floated to losing Claire, to not being able to look at her beautiful familiar face.

"Maybe I should turn these off for now," Claire suggested and pointed to her aides.

"Yeah, maybe that's for the best," Steve agreed and then they finished the drive in silence.

 **A/N:** Hi! Sorry I didn't get this posted sooner, it's finals week so of course everything is crazy. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'm sorry that I always post things super late at night, but like it's the time of day where I catch up on emails and just get stuff done. Anyway, since winter break is approaching I am anticipating more time to edit and publish so don't be surprised if I start updating very frequently. Thank you very much for reading!

XOXO


	5. Chapter 5

"I think we're here," Claire said as she parked the truck in front of what looked like a military base to her.

"We are," Steve said and followed her towards the buildings.

"Well this is it, Natasha said that the file came from here."

"So did I," Steve said and when Claire looked puzzled he continued, "This camp is where I trained."

"Change much?" Claire slyly smiled.

"A little," Steve retorted with a smile to match hers. They walked around the base for a little while but came up empty. No computers, no people, no leads. That was until Steve realized that something _had_ changed.

"What is it?" Claire asked.

"Army regulations forbid storing munitions within 500 yards of the barracks," Steve explained analyzing the structure, "this building is in the wrong place."

Steve broke the lock on the front door with his shield and led Claire into the building and down the stairs to what looked like an ordinary office building.

"What is this?" Claire asked taking in the scene.

"I think it might be SHIELD, or at least, where it began" Steve responded, his eyes wandering around the fixtures of the space. Claire and him wandered around, looked through senseless paperwork with none other than the SHIELD emblem on each paper. They then found a room that looked like a small library; on the wall were several pictures of people Steve recognized.

"Isn't that Tony Stark's father?" Claire asked pointing to the picture of a handsome olive-skinned man with a thick mustache.

"Howard," Steve nodded.

"And the girl? I've seen here before..." Claire said, sifting through her memory to put a name to a face, "The girl from your dreams," Claire whispered. Steve didn't respond, he just looked at the picture sorrowfully for a moment and then walked away. Claire kicked herself for being so thoughtless. Steve did dream of Peggy frequently, not as much as Bucky, but enough to be significant. Claire had also heard many debriefings from Steve's head after he would visit her in the nursing home. From what she could tell Steve had loved Peggy very much at one point, maybe as much as he had loved Bucky, but seeing her like she was now broke pieces off of him he didn't know still existed.

Steve walked towards the bookshelves, analyzed them carefully and felt a gentle breeze pulse towards him. He remembered from one of his experiences with Peggy that she and those she worked for were fond of secret doors. The lab he was created in lived behind a bookshelf in an antique store. This was almost too predictable.

"If you're already working in a secret office," Steve started and then heaved the bookshelf out of the way, "why do you need to hide the elevator?"

They both looked at the elevator warily and saw a keypad.

"Any clue what it might be?"

Claire rolled her eyes, "I'm a mind-reader, not a keypad reader."

"Right."

"But wait, I have an idea. Natasha gave me this phone and said it had a ton of features on it that any spy would kill for," Claire said and pulled her phone out and began flicking through apps.

"Natasha gave you a phone?"

"Yeah," Claire said nonchalantly and found the app she was looking for.

"When?"

"A few weeks ago when we hung out," Claire said and pointed the phone camera at the number pad that traced the fingerprints left on the keys and displayed the key code.

"You and Natasha hung out?" Steve asked as the elevator doors opened.

"Yeah," Claire huffed as they both entered the elevator.

"Uh, why?" He asked incredulously and then added, "if you don't mind me asking."

"She asked me to. And I think Clint gossiped to her all about me so she 'just had to meet me,'" Claire air-quoted.

"Wh...Ah, I understand. Clint wanted Natasha to check you out for me."

"Yes. They're both very eager for you to date somebody," Claire smiled which only made heat crawl into Steve's face.

"So earlier, when Natasha was asking me all sorts of questions about you-"

"She already knew. She just wanted to hear things from your perspective. Plus, Clint is one to embellish details, not necessarily the most reliable source," Claire laughed.

"Why can't these people just mind their own business?" Steve questioned.

"They're just looking out for you, they care about you, Steve," Claire said kindly.

"I can take care of myself," Steve muttered as he exited the elevator, Claire tight on his heels.

"This can't be the data point," Claire noted looking around the machines in the room, "this technology is ancient."

Steve didn't disagree, the computers that surrounded them didn't look anything like the sleek and small computer of the current time. Claire went up to the main desk and narrowed her eyes at a modern-looking USB hub plugged into the large computer. She reached into her pocket and plugged the USB in without much thought. Suddenly the room illuminated and the machines around them started whirring to life. The monitor in front of them hummed to life and it's screen projected an "initiate system" message. Claire timidly walked closer and pressed her fingers into the keyboard trying Y-E-S.

Just as the system further started to boot up Claire smiled coyly, "shall we play a game?" She turned around to look at Steve to explain the reference, "It's from a movie that was really-"

"I know. I saw it," Steve smiled brightly at her which made Claire's heart thud a little too hard for a second.

Just then a voice interrupted them, "Rogers, Steven, born 1918. Bellamy, Claire, born 1990."

Claire was stunned. She had never heard her last name be anything but Xavier. Her mind reeled by the fact that someone knew something like that, and not just a someone, a some _thing_. Steve looked at her for second and saw only her horror-struck face.

"It's just a recording, Claire, don't worry about it," Steve said quickly, moving to comfort her in some way.

"I am not a recording!" The voice shouted. It continued on, "I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945. But I am," A face illuminated the screen. What looked like from a newspaper was a picture of balding man with glasses.

"You know this thing?" Claire asked shocked, her eyes pooling with tears.

Steve nodded and explained, "Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years," he assured her as he walked behind the screen to investigate how it was functioning.

"First correction, I am Swiss. Second, look around you. I have never been more alive!" The voice boomed and Claire did look around her, at all of the machines. She realized that she hadn't turned her aides back on after the awkward conversation in the car, so she subtly flipped them back on to try to get a read on the machine, to see if there actually was a man.

"In 1972," the voice continued, "I received a terminal diagnosis. Science could not save my body. My mind, however, that was worth saving, on 200,000 feet of databanks. You are standing in my brain. How does that feel mind-reader?" Claire looked at the machine harshly. It knew about her powers.

"You're not actually alive, nor is your mind. I can't read you, you're not real," Claire said firmly.

"That is where you are wrong little girl!" The voice shouted at Claire, which made her take an automatic step back. Steve was not a fan of how much this machine was getting under Claire's skin.

"How did you get here?" Steve demanded.

"Invited," it said simply before continuing, "it was Operation Paperclip after World War II. S.H.I.E.L.D. recruited German scientists with strategic thought I could help their cause. I also helped my own."

"HYDRA died with the Red Skull," Steve said firmly, taking a step forward.

"Cut off one head," it said ominously, "two more shall take its place." To demonstrate its point a graphic of a menacing octopus filled the screen, followed by Zola's head splitting into two versions of itself.

"Prove it," Steve threatened.

"Accessing archive," the machine hummed to life and then continued, "HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom."

The screen in front of them was flooded with images. That of someone Claire had knew was the Red Skull. Another frequent character in Steve's dreams. Just looking at his face made her nauseous. Another image of an army dressed in black with horrifying masks. Steve was to stunned to move.

" What we did not realise was that if you try to take that freedom, they war taught us much," it said and then the image changed, Steve appeared, his efforts in defeating the Red Skull consumed the screen. Claire couldn't help but feel a tug in her heart watching him.

"Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded, and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew. A beautiful parasite inside S.H.I.E.L.D. For 70 years, HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war, and when history did not cooperate, history was changed," the voice said, flipping through images of the history of the world for the past 70 years. One image in particular stuck out to her, the winter soldier.

"That's impossible," Claire whispered, "SHIELD would have stopped you."

"Accidents will happen, silly little girl, I figured you of all people would understand that," it said and that stung Claire into silence allowing it to keep talking, "HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once a purification process is complete, HYDRA'S new world order will arise. We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your life. A zero sum."

Steve couldn't take it anymore. He punched the screen and a splintering shatter appeared. Claire wasn't scared by the sudden act of violence, she welcomed the silencing of the machine.

But it continued, this time on a different screen, "As I was saying…"

"What's on this drive?" Steve demanded.

"Project Insight requires...Insight. So, I wrote an algorithm."

"What kind of algorithm?" Steve asked. Claire was so distracted by the horrible machine that she almost missed the mind. He was young, maybe only mid-20's and a pilot that would make his mommy proud. But currently, he was aligning his missile with their exact location.

"The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it," the mechanical voice laughed and the metal door behind them closed loudly. Steve feebly sent his shield through the air to stop it, but he was too late. He looked wildly at Claire, waiting for her to say something.

"Steve," she choked out, "they found us. Short range ballistic."

"How much time?"

"30 seconds," Claire said gravely.

"Who fired it?" He asked her urgently.

"SHIELD," she said and Steve's face dropped. Claire took the opportunity to pull the USB from it's hub and then Steve pulled her away.

"I am afraid I have been stalling, Captain. Admit it. It's better this way. We are, both of us, out of time," the voice laughed one last time but Steve ignored it as he pulled Claire away. His mind raced with ideas. _Safety. Keep Claire safe. Protect her. Stay alive._ He then saw the metal grate beneath their feet. He wrenched the grate up and immediately lowered Claire into it. He figured he didn't have enough time to replace the grate so he hopped in after her, covered her body with his and both of them with the shield and waited while the world exploded above them.

Steve watched in horror as ruble crashed around them. One rock caught Claire right in the head and he watched the consciousness fade from her eyes. When the world stopped shaking he wrenched a giant something off of them and looked around at the horrible damage. Claire was completely still beneath him, her eyes closed and lips parted. His hands rested on either side of her face, fingertips brushing at her skin.

"Claire?" He asked timidly, but when he didn't get a response, he picked up her limp body and made his path to the forest. Whoever had shot at them would be back to make sure they finished the job.

Between the serum and her light weight, it wasn't very hard to hold Claire while he ran and weaved through the forest. When they were only a few miles away Claire woke up, her eyes were half-lidded for a fraction of a second before they snapped open wide and Claire started to roll out of Steve's arms.

"Claire?" He asked, tightening his grip so she wouldn't fall, but Claire continued pushing herself away. Steve finally skidded to a stop and let her out of his arms just in time for her to heave the contents of her stomach. He moved to soothe her, to rub small circles on her back while her body shook with heaving.

"I'm sorry," she croaked when she finally finished. Her head was pounding like a drum and her ears were ringing. She felt immensely better after puking, but the world was still spinning a little bit, so she sunk to the ground.

"Claire!" Steve shouted worriedly, falling to his knees next to her.

"Steve, I'm fine. Just a little dizzy. Give me a minute," she begged. Her mouth tasted vile, she would murder for toothpaste right then. Steve rose back to his feet and gave her what she asked for: a minute. When she finally started to move again, rising slowly back to her feet, a hand clapped over her lower stomach.

"How's your head?" Steve asked, stepping closer to her and pointing at the deep purple bruise that was blooming across her forehead.

"I've had worse," Claire brushed which made Steve frown.

"Can I look at it?"

"It's fine, Steve, really. We should get going, they've got to be close behind," she said, trying to scan the area for minds other than Steve's but the action made her head pound a little harder and wince. Steve noticed and came closer to her, extending his hand to comfort her, or do something, but chickened out and just dropped his hand.

"We'll go when you feel well-enough," Steve said firmly.

"Steve, please, I hear a few of them, not too far. Let's go," she said. Steve pursed his lips at her for a beat and then conceded, leading the way.

Of course it wasn't easy for Claire. Every step sent bolts of pain through her teeth and into her skull. It made her weak, made her feet slip in places and her pace slow. Steve didn't say anything, just extended a hand to her and helped pull her along through the dark forest. A mile into the journey at what Claire guessed was sometime around midnight, the nausea crept back into her stomach and she dry-heaved in front of a stream. If she wasn't dehydrated before, this did her in.

"Claire, let me carry you," Steve urged.

"No, I'm-"

"You're not fine. Let me carry you," Steve insisted again and came closer to her, placing a gentle hand on her hip. Her resolve was crumbling. And not walking did sound lovely.

"Fine," she gave in, "but I'm riding piggy-back style. I refuse to be the damsel-in-distress."

This made Steve smile. He helped her onto his back and she wound her legs tightly around his waist. He curled his hands around her ankles so that her legs wouldn't slip. After the first few hundred feet Claire finally gave in and rested her clammy cheek against his shoulder, which only made him smile wider.

After a few more hours of walking Claire asked, "where are we gonna go, Steve? We're running out of friends."

"I think still know of one."

 **A/N: Thank you for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

A few hours before dawn, they managed to get out of the woods and find a neighborhood. Steve hotwired another car-intent on returning this one for sure-and they were off. Steve knew that he might have made a considerable amount of enemies, but he still had one friend: Sam Wilson. After meeting Sam on a run and attending a few of his meetings at the VA, Steve had really come to like Sam. Steve already felt guilty about putting Sam in this kind of danger, but he was running out of options. He would've called Natasha, but he and Claire had both lost their phones in the bombing ordeal.

They made it to Sam's around 7:30 AM, when Steve was sure he would be home from his morning run. Steve knocked on Sam's door firmly and glanced at Claire while he waited. She looked exhausted, purple smudges under her eyes and the sick bruise still peeking out under her hair. He felt horrible that she looked so defeated.

Picking up on Steve's thoughts Claire smiled and said, "Do you think Sam has mascara I can borrow?"

Steve laughed and said, "you'll just have to ask."

"I will," Claire said, scarlet blooming under the skin of her cheeks, when the door opened to a tall African-American man wearing a sweat-stained shirt.

"Hey, man," Sam said warmly even though he was a little surprised that Captain America himself was on his doorstep with a tired-looking girl next to him.

"I'm sorry about this," Steve said, "but we need a place to lay low."

"Everyone we know is trying to kill us," Claire said bluntly, knowing that Sam responded best to brutal and quick honesty.

"Not everyone," Sam said fiercely and moved to let them into his house. He asked if they would like to use his bathroom to clean up while he made them some breakfast to which they accepted gratefully. Like the gentleman he was, Steve let Claire shower first. She practically moaned while she let the hot water wash the exhaustion out of her bones. She was careful of the cuts still on her back and only winced a little bit when Sam's shampoo burned them. Claire scrubbed all of the dirt and rubble off of her, but couldn't erase the deep purple mark that had bloomed out of her hairline. She felt like a different person after the shower, she practically floated by Steve when she exited the bathroom.

She waited on the bed while Steve showered and tried to get some sleep for just a moment. But unfortunately Steve was too quick and by the time he was shutting the water off, Claire had barely managed to get even a few minutes of rest. Sleep would have to wait till later. Steve dressed quickly in a shirt Sam let him borrow and the same jeans he was wearing before. Fortunately for Claire, Sam had managed to find a plain cotton shirt an old girlfriend had left at his house, but she was still stuck in the same jeans and underwear. She tried to not let it bother her.

"You doing okay?" Steve asked Claire once he was dressed.

"Yes."

"Do you need help re-bandaging your back?"

"No, I found some gauze and tape and did it myself. It wasn't anything too bad," Claire said. Her back didn't hurt nearly at all, but her head was still buzzing. She had already looked through Sam's medicine cabinet to see if he had anything stronger than aspirin. She came up empty-handed.

Steve sat on the bed next to her and whispered, "What are we gonna do, Claire?"

"I don't know. It's frustrating as hell that I can't get a read on any of this. I'm not used to being so…..Blind," Claire admitted.

"Now you know how the rest of us feel," Steve joked.

"I'm going to make this right, Steve," Claire promised and looked at Steve seriously.

"Claire, this isn't right. I can't keep dragging you into danger. Maybe you should stay here and I'll figure something-"

"No way," she cut him off. "I was sort of an X-men you know? I come from superheroes, this is extremely normal for me."

"Is it really?" Steve asked unsure.

"Well, not usually to this degree. But you get the point. Steve, you said it yourself, I'm useful. You need me."

"Claire, you're hurt as it is, I can't keep doing this to you," Steve said.

"Doing what? I'm here by choice, I'm just as involved as you are in this," Claire challenged.

"I know that, but I can't stand this, I just-just-" Steve stuttered.

"You just what?"

"I have feelings for you, Claire. Okay? I like you, I care about you, and I can't watch you get hurt anymore. I won't," Steve was suddenly hot and uncomfortable, he couldn't believe he just said that out loud.

"Steve," Claire started, her features softening.

"The last two people I cared about like this were taken away from me. I don't know how much more I can take," Steve admitted.

"Oh, Steve, I know. I'm sorry," Claire said and pulled Steve into a tight hug. He wound his arms around her carefully and put his cheek on the top of her head.

"So you'll stay here?" Steve asked hopefully.

"No way."

"I made breakfast," Sam interrupted them, making Claire and Steve pull apart from their hug and laugh shakily, "if you guys eat that sort of thing." Which only made them laugh harder.

"That sounds wonderful. Thank you for everything, Sam," Claire said warmly and followed him to the kitchen, Steve right behind her.

"So, the question is, who at SHIELD could launch a domestic missile strike?" Claire asked around a mouthful of toast.

"Pierce," Steve responded cooly, not even bothering with the food in front of him.

"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world," Claire said cynically and then took a sip of orange juice. She was beyond grateful for this meal, she made a mental note to pay Sam back for this act of kindness.

"But he's not working alone. Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star, the ship Natasha and I raided."

"So was Jasper Sitwell," Claire added.

"So, the real question is, how do the two most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?" Steve asked bitterly.

"The answer is, you don't," Sam replied confidently and slapped a folder onto the table, which Claire started immediately going through.

"What's this?" Steve asked.

"Call it a resume."

"Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you?" Claire asked astonished, she couldn't help the smiled that crept up her face.

"How do you know about that mission?" Sam asked.

"I...helped," Claire smiled. It was one of her very first assignments at SHIELD.

"You helped? I'm sorry, but who are you actually?"

"Oh right, how rude of me. I'm Claire Xavier, former SHIELD employee, current fugitive with Steve over here," Claire joked and stuck her hand out mockingly for Sam to shake.

"Xavier...Why is that name familiar?"

"My father is Charles Xavier."

"Like, X-Men, Xavier? Like professor X?" Sam asked.

"The very one."

"Are you… a….mutant?"

"Yes," Claire responded. Questions danced in Sam's mind, he wanted to know what she could do but he was unsure how to ask it.

"I'm a mind-reader," Claire finally said, Sam was immediately calm. And then panicked about having her hear his thoughts.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"What number am I thinking of right now?"

"Ugh, are we really going to play this game?" Claire groaned.

"Hey, if you can't do it, you can't do it-"

"14."

"Lucky guess," Sam smiled.

"Right now you're thinking about how this shirt looks better on me than your ex-girlfriend. Also, you're worried about something that happened at work the other day, something about a receptionist? Did you try asking her out? No. You chickened out. She likes you, just so you know. You should actually ask her out."

Sam was stunned into silence, he broke his eye contact with Claire to look at Steve, who just shrugged his shoulders and smiled smugly at her.

"How the hell-You know what? Forget I asked. Let's just move on, we'll address the mind-reading thing later," Sam said, suddenly uncomfortable. Claire laughed.

"You never did tell me he was a Pararescue, Steve," Claire chided.

Steve didn't respond, instead he looked at the pictures Sam had handed to him of himself and his partner, "is this Riley?"

"Yeah," Sam responded numbly and his thoughts flashed to Riley. Suddenly Claire was bombarded with sadness, pain, violence. She could feel everything Sam had, did, does. She saw the moment Sam lost Riley, saw him slip through his hands. It made her chest tight. Steve looked at her worriedly when she braced herself against the back of a chair, but she brushed him off and straightened her posture.

"I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs," Claire said, changing the topic, trying to pull Sam's thoughts from Riley,"What did you use? A stealth chute?"

"No," Sam said simply and showed them pictures of metal wings that sprouted from his shoulders.

"I thought you said you were a pilot," Steve said surprised.

"I never said pilot," Sam pointed out.

"I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason."

"Dude," Sam smiled, " Captain America needs my 's no better reason to get back in."

"Where can we get our hands on one of these things?" Claire asked.

"The last one is at Fort Meade. Behind 3 guarded gates and a 12-inch steel wall."

"Shouldn't be a problem," Claire smiled wickedly.

 **AN: Sorry this chapter is a bit shorter. The next chapter is very long, so hopefully that makes up for it! This just felt like a good stopping place. Anyway, Happy late Christmas to those who celebrated!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Happy New Year! Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

It wasn't actually all too difficult to get Sam's wings. Not really. It just took a little help from Claire's gift and a few intimidating looks from Steve and Sam and bam they had them. Soon enough they were on their way to interrogate the hell out of Jasper Sitwell. Since Claire and Steve were a bit too "wanted" at the moment, they decided to let the luring process of Sitwell go to Sam. Claire hid on a high rooftop with a laser pointed at Sitwell while Sam did his threatening. Steve's job was to drive Sitwell and Sam (in Sam's car, not another stolen one, which eased Steve's conscious a touch) to the high building Claire was waiting at.

Steve took the back stairs with his fists clenched around Sitwell's suit jacket and threw him through the door to the roof, Claire on his heels.

"What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?" Steve asked threateningly, forcing Sitwell to walk backwards towards the ledge.

"I was throwing up. I get seasick," Sitwell joked nervously. Steve wasn't amused. He pushed his body even closer to the edge.

"Is this little display meant to insinuate that you're gonna throw me off the roof? Because it's really not your style, Rogers," Sitwell attempted to joke again. Steve laughed this time.

"You're right," Steve said and released his grip. He then started to straighten the wrinkles on Sitwell's jacket where he had been clenching.

"It's not. But Claire has always wanted to try it," Steve smiled and then moved back far enough for Claire to get between them and give Sitwell's shoulders a hard push, effectively pushing him off of the building completely.

"Wow. That was actually really fun. Have you ever done that before?" Claire smiled, the devious side of Claire was coming out.

"No," Steve said with a smile, but then became saddened. He knew what it was like to fall and to watch others fall. Their conversation was cut short however when Sam came flying up past them and dumped a still screaming Sitwell a few feet in front of them.

He began immediately spilling the secrets, "Zola's algorithm is a program for choosing insight's targets."

"What targets?" Steve asked.

"You!" Sitwell screamed, out of breath. "A TV anchor in Cairo, the Under Secretary of Defense, a high school Valedictorian in Iowa City, Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA. Now, or in the future."

"In the future? How could it know?" Steve asked.

"How could it not?" Sitwell chuckled and stood from the ground. "The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it. Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, emails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores! Zola's algorithm evaluates people's past to predict their future."

"And what then?"

Suddenly Sitwell's whole face and posture changed, "Oh, my god. Pierce is gonna kill me."

"What then?" Steve asked again, more seriously, more intimidatingly.

"Then the insight helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time."

….

Claire was less than pleased to have to sit in the back of Sam's car with Sitwell, but for the mission and for Steve's sake, she kept her mouth shut. Everyone's minds were buzzing with the newly learned information and how to deal with it. Sitwell's mind was a complete mess. He was terrified for his own life, trying to configure plans to get himself out of their car and far away from HYDRA.

"HYDRA doesn't like leaks," Sitwell said urgently to Sam and Steve.

"Then why don't you try sticking a cork in it?" Sam retorted, effectively silencing Sitwell.

"Insight's launching in 16 hours. We're cutting it a little bit close here," Claire said.

"I know," Steve sighed. "We'll use him to bypass the DNA scans and access the helicarriers directly."

"What? Are you crazy?" Sitwell screeched, "That is a terrible, terrible idea-" Sitwell was cut off by the sound of broken glass. Claire watched in horror as a metal arm ripped Sitwell from his seat and threw him into oncoming traffic. Then a gun pointed through the window and Claire bolted for the front seat, awkwarding throwing her limbs around to land in Steve's lap. The gun aimed around the inside of the car and Claire pulled Steve's head down in time for the bullet to miss him and hit the head rest.

Sam immediately threw the car in park, not even thinking about the repercussions to the engine, and effectively threw their assailant off the car and onto the ground. He recovered quickly, digging his metal fingers into the asphalt and regaining his balance into a crouched position. They all stared at him in surprise Claire squinting her eyes at him, trying to get a read on his mind. His thoughts were all warped and violent, crowded by murder and death. She was stunned, she couldn't breathe, couldn't move, she was trapped in his vice-like mind.

Then something smashed into the back of their car and sent their car moving forward towards the figure. He jumped up just in time to land on the roof of their car. The connection between Claire and the Soldier was broken just long enough for her to regain her thoughts and remember the small gun Sam had tucked away under the passenger seat. She was interrupted by the shock of the Soldier's hand shooting through the windshield and pulling the steering wheel right out of Sam's hands.

Claire kept searching for the gun and curled her fingers around it right when Sam yelled, "Shit!" She pulled the trigger a few times with the gun aimed at the roof, but the Soldier had already made his escape towards the car behind them.

Without the steering wheel, the car was all over the road, smashing into traffic and clipping the median with its front bumper. Steve's mind was buzzing, thinking of ways to get them out of the car. He figured a plan out quickly, pressing his shield against the door, yelling a, "hang on" and grabbing on tight to Sam and Claire while busting through the door. The car suspended in the air the perfect amount of time for the trio to land on the road and skid a few times out of the path of the rolling car. Sam rolled off after only a few feet of sliding, but Steve managed to keep a tight hold on Claire. When they finished moving Steve looked at Claire for any signs of damage.

"I'm fine!" Claire shouted and then ran away just in time as a missile hit Steve's shield and sent him flying off of the bridge. Claire desperately searched for a way to get down to Steve and away from the Soldier and his small army. The Soldier and his army continued to shoot at Claire while she weaved through traffic and away from them.

Sheer, stupid luck came to Claire in the form of a construction crane parked close to the bridge. She made her way over to the crane, hoisted her legs off the side of the bridge and not-so-gracefully climbed down the crane. When she made it to the ground she could feel the mind of the Soldier concentrating on her, trying to find where she might have gone, but also focused on Sam's advances toward him. For a brief moment, she felt bad for leaving Sam up there by himself, but she had to find Steve.

She ran towards the bus that had been turned over, finding his unconscious thoughts floating around that area. But just when she was about to leave the shadow of the bridge, she saw the figure of the Soldier on the bridge, anticipating her to run out at any moment. So she positioned herself just under the bridge where she could see him but he couldn't see her and aimed the pistol she managed to keep a hold of at his face. She fired a few times and managed to make him move back in shock, she had clipped him in goggles. His shock gave her a few moments to run for cover behind a truck close to the bus. The Soldier regained his composure quickly and aimed his rifle just below him and fired a few shots. Claire then shot the remaining bullets in her pistol at him, hoping to land somewhere tender, like his skull.

Unfortunately, this gave away her location to him and she ducked for cover while he shot a few more rounds at her. Then she noticed the civilians. Poor, terrified people attempting to run away, and others who had no idea what was going on. Steve would just have to wait. So she ran away from him and towards the civilians, urging them to run away, yelling for them to find safety. She picked up the Soldier's thoughts then, as loud as if he had screamed them, "I will find the girl."

"Nice," Claire murmured to herself sarcastically and kept running and yelling at civilians. She could sense that he was somewhere behind her, tracking her. So she decided to be as stealthy as possible, to hide and stay hidden. Being able to track his thoughts always kept her a step ahead of him. Unfortunately, the Soldier identified her weakness: civilians. She was doing such a good job at staying hidden, but then the Soldier made a decision to go after civilians until she came out to play and suddenly she couldn't remain hidden anymore. She jumped out from the car she was hiding behind and landed on his shoulders. She pulled the metal wire for choking that Clint had given her for her birthday and tried wrapping it around the Soldier's throat.

The Soldier had managed to get a hand through the rope and keep it from choking him completely. They struggled in this position for a few moments before the Soldier finally got the upper-hand and threw her off his shoulders and into a car. Slamming into the sedan sent all of the air out of Claire's lung and left scorching hot flames of pain in her chest. She barely had any recovery time before the soldier was wrenching her up and throwing her into the side of van. She tried to fight back with him, to predict his moves and block, but her mind was so clouded, so fuzzy, all she wanted to do in that moment was sleep for a thousand years. But the Soldier had other plans. He grabbed her hair with his metal fingers and slammed the side of her face into the van. Claire heard a crack and then the whole world spun. Voices flooded her brain and left hot-searing pain into every nook and cranny of her mind it touched. Claire was on the ground, gasping, begging for help, but the Soldier just aimed his gun at her, finger on the trigger. Then Steve slammed into the Soldier with enough force to send him 15 feet away.

"Claire?" Steve asked worriedly as he saw Claire curled into herself with her hands gripping her skull. But there was no time to check on her, the Soldier demanded Steve's full attention by sending a few threatening shots at his shield. When the Soldier paused to reload, Steve went flying towards him, feet clipping his arm and knocking his handgun away. Then Steve attempted to slam his shield into the Soldier's face, but was stopped by the grip of his metal fingers. They engaged in hand-to-hand combat for several minutes, which ended with the Soldier taking Steve's shield and sending him flying into a parked car.

Steve recovered quickly and came sprinting towards the Soldier. The Soldier threw Steve's shield at him, missing him by only a few inches, and watched into cut into a parked van. Steve then threw himself at the Soldier and managed to land a few punches all while avoiding swipes from a small knife the Soldier had pulled out. Steve got the upper-hand with a sharp jab to the Soldier's jaw followed by a kick to the ribs that sent him flying into a car. While he was down, Steve then came at him again and kicked his body into the car once more.

But when Steve tried to land another punch into his face, the Soldier blocked it and instead connected his fist to Steve's face once. The fist fight continued, jabs back and forth, both of them on equal-footing, evenly matched. The Soldier then managed to launch Steve over the hood of a car and tried to slam his metal fist into his face, but missed and crushed the ground instead. Steve paused to look at the ground in horror for a fraction of a second before continuing the fight.

The Soldier slammed Steve into the side of a van, the same one Steve's shield had been lodged into, and aimed a 6 inch long knife directly in his face. He used two hands to force it closer, but Steve managed to push his arms a few inches away and land the blade into the metal siding of the car. They both slid against the length of the car while the Soldier attempted to slice Steve's throat open. When the knife hit an obstruction in the siding of the vehicle, Steve took the opportunity of the Soldier's hesitance to throw him on the ground and grab his shield back.

They fought with the shield, evening the fight a little bit. Each of them managing to get a few jabs into one another before Steve used his shield to try to pry the Soldier's metal arm in two. It caused the Soldier pain, but before he could even counter, Steve pulled his shield in front of the soldier and slammed into his face, causing him to stagger. Steve grabbed the front of his face, hand covering the mask, and launched him over his shoulder maskless.

What Steve saw stunned him. Everything in the world seemed to stop. He was looking at Bucky. The Bucky. _His_ Bucky. But he was different, so different. His skin was pale now, and his eyes were rimmed with harsh red rings. His hair was long too, longer than Steve had ever seen. It was impossible, Steve had watched him fall. And yet, all these years later, his best friend in the entire world, his rock, his life, was standing right in front of him. And had been trying to kill him. How he wished this reunion had gone differently.

"Bucky?" Steve said in surprise, hurt, sadness, joy. He wasn't sure, he couldn't quite fit an emotion to his tone.

But when Bucky looked at him in utter confusion and asked, "Who the hell is Bucky?" Steve felt his entire world crashing in on him.

Just when Bucky aimed his pistol at Steve, with every intention of ending his target's life and ending his mission, Sam came from the sky on his wings and kicked Bucky away. Bucky looked at Steve one more time, looked at his gun, and then just walked away, disappeared really.

Steve looked after Bucky for a fraction of a second before remembering that Claire was hurt. He grabbed his shield and then sprinted back to where he left her writhing body and then saw the cause of her pain. One of her hearing aides laid crushed on the ground a few feet away from her. She didn't even stir when Steve crouched down and placed a gentle hand on her soldier. He tried rolling onto her back so her could look at her face, reassure her that she was going to be alright, but he was interrupted.

"Drop the shield, Cap!" A voice commanded. A voice he recognized as Brock Rumlow.

"Get on your knees! Get on your knees!" Several voices commanded to him and Sam a few feet away. He did as he was told, dropping the shield and moving to his knees. His eyes never left Claire's slightly shaking body.

There were several guns pointed at Steve and a helicopter up above them. They were completely screwed. Steve watched in horror as one of Rumlow's men hoisted Claire's rigid body up and pulled her hands away from her skull and behind her back. Her hair covered most of her face, but Steve didn't miss the droplets of blood that were dripping from her nose.

"Put the guns down," Rumlow ordered his men, noticing the TV news helicopter circling above them.

"Not here. Not here!" He ordered and all of his soldiers relaxed their position. His men then hoisted Steve and Claire off of their knees. Steve walked, but Claire dragged her feet and rolled her head around like she was possessed. The soldiers threw the three of them into the back of one of their vans, Sam on one side and Steve and Claire on another. They put thick metal handcuffs on each of them that only allowed their hands to sit uselessly on their laps. Two armed guards sat in there with them. When they started moving, Claire's head fell limply on Steve's shoulder.

"It was him," Steve said numbly, "he looked right at me like he didn't even know me."

"How is that even possible?" Sam asked. "That was, like, 70 years ago."

"Zola," Steve said gravely.

"Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43. Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall. The must have found and…" Steve's voice caught with emotion. While Steve talked, Claire tried to come back to world, tried to control the voices. She clung onto his voice like a life-preserver while she drowned in the thoughts of everyone around her.

"None of that's your fault, Steve," Claire slurred, pleased with herself that she even managed to find her own voice amongst the sea of others that polluted her mind.

"Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky," Steve said sadly. Claire shuffled uncomfortably, Steve's overwhelming sadness filling her head, along with everyone else's thoughts.

"Hey, what's wrong with her?" Sam asked Steve, noticing the pool of blood Claire's nose left on Steve's shirt.

"He broke one of her hearing aides that block out most of the voices. Hey, we need to get her another one, she's in a lot of pain!" Steve yelled at the guards, but they just lit up one of their electrified batons. The guard did something unexpected then, plunging the end of it into the gut of the guard next to it. When the guard fell unconscious, the guard pulled off its helmet to reveal a sly smiling Natasha.

"Hello, friends."

 ** **(Please don't kill me for replacing Maria with Natasha in this scene. I love Maria though, don't worry, she will be in the next chapter!)****

 **A/N: I felt like this note was necessary. So, in this fic all of the dialogue (and most of the action) comes** _ **directly**_ **from the movie. As in, I have two screens open, one for writing and one for watching the movie. In this story Claire essentially replaces Natasha for the events, however Claire is NOT a trained assassin, she does NOT have the same fun tools or skills as Natasha, and therefore for the purposes of this story I had to change a few details (like using the construction crane to get down instead of the wire method that Natasha uses). While I am still trying very hard to make Claire a badass who is completely capable of keeping up with her superhero counterparts, it was also very important to me to keep her realistic. The whole keypad identifying app on her phone a few chapters back was already pretty far-fetched. I am not expecting this to be a huge problem for people, but I just wanted to clarify that since I was keeping the events and details pretty close to the movie, that I did have to change quite a few thing for continuation and believability. Also, sorry this took so long to update, the holidays are always a busy time, and this chapter required a lot of editing and detail-checking because it's a pretty intricate part. Okay, this was long, but thank you for reading!**

 **Oh, one more thing: I am** _ **sort of**_ **looking for a beta-reader. I've had one before, but I didn't feel like it was very constructive/helpful. I really just need one to overlook the grammatical errors that I might have missed. If anyone is interested, please PM me and maybe we can work something out, it would be a VERY easy-going arrangement. And the benefit would be that you get to read the chapter before anyone else, so that's cool, I guess?**


	8. Chapter 8

All Claire could see were fluorescent lights. Row after row of them. Some were burnt out, others flickered, but that's all she could see. She knew she was moving, she knew someone was carrying her, but that's where what she knew ended. She didn't know where she was going or who was holding her. All she knew was what she could see, and it was those damn flickering lights.

…

Claire lost consciousness sometime after Natasha had revealed herself in her SWAT team garb. Steve was very surprised to see Natasha, surprised and relieved. She told them that she had been working to get Steve out of this mess the entire time, and had a very special guest waiting for him back where she was hiding out. She then helped them escape the van by slicing a large hole in the floor and waiting for a stoplight to tuck and roll out.

Natasha drove them to an abandoned area with a few old factories and a worn down dam. Steve grabbed an unconscious Claire from the back seat and carried her while he followed Natasha inside. A man came running behind them to which Natasha shouted back, "Get Xavier on the phone. Or Tony if Charles doesn't pick up."

"Tony? Charles? Why are you calling them?" Steve asked defensively.

"One of her aides is damaged, correct?"

"Yes," Steve said.

"Well, we need Xavier to get down here to bring us another one. Or Stark."

"What does Stark have to do with this?"

"He's studied her abilities and her aides before, offered to make her more permanent ones. She always declined though," Natasha explained.

"And why's that?" Sam asked.

"Tony's permanent designs always included brain surgery and that man is no neurosurgeon," Natasha joked. Steve didn't find it humorous.

Natasha led them to large room with a few old hospital beds. Steve laid Claire on one while the doctor began prodding her and taking vitals.

"Come on, there's someone you're going to want to see," Natasha urged Steve away.

"Will she be okay?" Steve asked the doctor.

"Her father will be here shortly. She will be alright, Mr. Rogers," the doctor said kindly.

"Thank you," Steve said and followed Natasha and Sam.

Steve couldn't believe his eyes when he saw him. Laying on a hospital bed, similar to Claire's, with multiple tubes stuck in him and machines surrounding him, there was Nick Fury. Alive.

"About damn time," Nick said when he caught sight of Steve.

…

"Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one hell of a headache-"

"-Don't forget your collapsed lung," the doctor interrupted Nick as he came in the room followed by agent Maria Hill.

"Let's not forget that." Nick deadpanned, "Otherwise, I'm good."

"They cut you open. Your heart stopped." Steve said.

"Tetrodotoxin B. Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him, but we found a use for it." Nick said knowingly.

"Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?" Steve asked frustrated.

"Any attempt on the Director's life had to look successful," Maria said.

"Can't kill you if you're already dead," Nick joked and then continued seriously, "Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust."

Steve didn't like that answer. He didn't like that Nick felt like he couldn't trust Steve or poor Claire who got dragged into this.

…

Claire was dreaming. At least, she was pretty sure she was dreaming. She was in a room full of men she didn't recognize. But none of them could see her, or hear her no matter how loudly she screamed. She searched the room (which turned out to be a bank vault) for an exit for a way out, for someone to hear her, when she saw him. The Winter Soldier, or Steve's late friend Bucky Barnes was sitting in a scary metal dentists-office-chair-gone-wrong. He wasn't moving, not much. He was thinking, thoughts and memories were warping and crashing together.

Momentarily, Claire kicked herself for not seeing that The Winter Soldier was Bucky. How could she have missed that? But then she remembered how Bucky had responded to Steve knowing him, and how his name meant nothing to him. Of course. If Bucky didn't know he was Bucky, then how the hell would Claire have known? This eased her guilt only slightly.

She was still confused, though. Was this a dream? Was this real? And then, Pierce walked through the door and headed straight for Bucky, slapping him around and yelling at him. Claire moved forward, tried to stand between them, but nothing happened, it was like she was a ghost. Pierce then gave an order and Bucky laid back for torture to begin. They placed rubber in his mouth and set electrodes against his forehead. As soon as electricity pulsed through his brain, Claire felt a jolt like she was struck by lightning.

Claire woke with a start, sweat pouring from her temples and her heart pounding in her chest. She was gripping sheets and gasping for air. Her whole body was shaking.

"Claire? Claire, dear, please calm down." A gentle voice urged her. A warm hand was placed on her clammy one and finally the room stopped spinning and she could see her surroundings. The professor was sitting next to her, his warm hand on hers, his eyes crinkled with concern. "Are you alright?"

"Yes. I think so. Just a nightmare." Claire brushed. God, she felt like her brain had just come out of a blender. She felt like she was just torn limb from limb and put back together with glue, everything felt off.

"Where I am? Where's Steve?" Claire asked in a panic. The last thing she could remember was being in a car with Steve and then after that her memory was blank.

"You're safe. Steve is in the other room. I told him he could come see you when you're better."

"Better? What's wrong with me?"

"Well, you've had a rough few days everyone tells me. That you've been a wanted fugitive, survived a bombing, a terrorist attack, and then you broke one of your hearing aides. They called me a few hours ago and said you needed another one, so I rushed down here as soon as I could. You've been quite busy, I suppose" the Professor smiled warmly. Claire couldn't help but the blush that invaded her cheeks.

"I've missed you, and I'm glad you're here. Even if it is under these circumstances."

"I've missed you too, my dear. You should come home more often. And maybe bring your boyfriend?" The Professor smiled smugly.

"Oh, Steve's not my boyfriend, we're just-just-doing-just-" Claire stuttered.

"Oh dear don't get so worked up, I was only joking. Steve does seem like a charming man though."

"He is," Claire agreed and sighed at how lucky she was to even know Steve.

…

"This man declined the Nobel Peace Prize," Nick said, showing Steve a picture of a younger Pierce. "He said, 'peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility.' See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues."

"We have to stop the launch," Natasha said seriously.

"I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore."

Maria opened a suitcase full of small blue chips to which Sam immediately asked, "what's that?"

"Once the helicarriers reach 3,000 feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites, becoming fully weaponized," Maria explained.

"We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own," Nick jumped in.

"One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remain operational a whole lot of people are gonna die."

"We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA. We have to get past them, insert these server blades. And maybe, just maybe we can salvage what's left…"

Steve interrupted Nick, "We're not salvaging anything. We're not just taking down those carriers, Nick. We're taking down SHIELD."

"SHIELD had nothing to do with this."

"You gave me this mission. This is how it ends." Steve said angrily. "SHIELD's been compromised. You said so yourself. HYDRA grew right under your nose and nobody noticed."

"Why do you think we're meeting in this cave? I noticed." Nick said almost comically.

"How many paid the price before you did?" Steve was unamused, he could feel his blood boiling and venom leaking into his words.

Nick looked down guiltily. "Look, I didn't know about Barnes."

Fire burned in Steve at the mention of his name, hotter than it ever had before,  
"Even if you had, would you have told me? Or would have compartmentalized that, too? SHIELD, HYDRA, it all goes."

"He's right," Maria quietly agreed. Nick looked around the room for help, eyeing Natasha and catching Sam's glace.

"Don't look at me. I do what he does, just slower," Sam responded.

Nick chuckled silently, "Well...It looks like you're giving the orders now, Captain."

…

Claire refused to let Steve see her in a hospital bed, afraid of what conclusions about her safety he might jump to. So as soon as she felt like she wasn't going to fall over and need a wheelchair like the Professor, she changed her bloody shirt and went to find Steve. She knew he was upset over a conversation between him and Fury over the future (or lackthereof) of SHIELD and the newest plan to take down HYDRA. But she still needed to talk to him.

She found him outside, on the top of the dam, staring out at the water and reminiscing about Bucky. Flashes of a memory danced around his head. The memory of his mother's funeral and a conversation he had with Bucky in front of his apartment.

"When I was younger, my best friend was a sock," Claire's voice pulled Steve from his thoughts. He went to her quickly and held her, wanting to ask if she was okay, but she just kept telling her story. "Her name was Madeline and she was the prettiest sock I had ever seen. I don't remember where I got her or where she went, but I do remember telling her stories all the time."

They stood in silence for a few moments after she finished her story, Steve holding her tightly around the shoulders while they both faced the water.

"I was so worried about you."

"I'm okay, Steve." More silence followed. "Did you meet my dad?"

"Charles? Yes. Very nice man, polite. Didn't really let me talk though, said he knew everything and that he'd be keeping an eye on me. Do you know what that's about?"

"He's a mind-reader too, I told you that, right?"

"I don't think we ever got to the parent portion of our relationship," Steve joked.

"Well he is. So don't worry about it. Although, he would love for you to visit sometime. There's probably only 15 years age difference, so I'm sure you have a ton in common, shared life experience and all." Claire joked. Steve laughed too, his chest vibrating against Claire's back. They held onto the genuine moment for a few seconds longer before Claire grew serious.

"He'll be there," Claire whispered.

"I know."

"Everyone wants you to stop him, to destroy him."

"I don't know if I can do that," Steve admitted emotionally.

"I'm not asking you to. I'm just worried he won't give you a choice."

"Did you know, Claire?" Steve asked seriously. Claire turned around to face him, to reassure him.

"I didn't know until you did."

"Does he know who he is? Does he know who I am?"

"No. But he will. Make him remember, Steve. Save him."

AN: Please don't kill me! It's been a rough past couple of months and so it just took me a really long time to finish this chapter. This one was difficult because it required a lot of changing of the structure of the movie and lines and characters and new stuff and etc etc excuses excuses. Anyway, I hope you enjoy, I will try to post another sooner than later, and I hope everyone has civil war tickets and their funerals planned (I know I do!).


	9. Chapter 9

To prepare for war, they all had to get into their uniforms. Steve broke into the Smithsonian for his original suit. Sam combined tactical clothes with his wings. Maria donned her SHIELD suit. Natasha wore a disguise. To the professor's delight, Claire would've worn the custom made X-men unitard, but it wouldn't have felt right. So she settled on black athletic pants and a black long sleeve cotton turtleneck, the whole getup made her feel like a spy. Natasha even gifted her with a few fancy gadgets like electrocuting gloves and a new wire to replace the one she had lost fighting Bucky.

Breaking into SHIELD headquarters again gave her an anxious pit in her stomach from the last time she was here with Steve. Sam, Steve, Maria, and Claire took hidden backdoors and passageways to get to the main communication room where Steve insisted on making a speech. Having Maria with them was a dream, as she was able to keep them hidden and bypass access to otherwise off-limits places. In the communication room, Steve glanced around the room at the mildly terrified workers before he made his way to the microphone.

"Attention all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, this is Steve Rogers. You've heard a lot about me over the last few days. Some of you were even ordered to hunt me down. But I think it's time you know the truth. S.H.I.E.L.D. is not what we thought it was. It's been taken over by HYDRA. Alexander Pierce is their leader. The S.T.R.I.K.E. and Insight crew are HYDRA as well. I don't know how many more, but I know they're in the building. They could be standing right next to you. They almost have what they want. Absolute control. They shot Nick Fury. And it won't end there. If you launch those helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way. Unless we stop them. I know I'm asking a lot. But the price of freedom is high. It always has been. And it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not." Steve ended his triumphant speech with a quick glance to Claire, who smiled back warmly.

"Did you write that down first, or was it off the top of your head?" Sam joked, which made everyone smile right at the cusp of war.

…

Claire really wished she had spent more time running in her free time instead of napping and binge-watching America's Next Top Model, because Steve was fast. Soooo fast. As soon as Steve ended his triumphant war speech, her and Sam ran after him to the launching bays where the helicarriers would soon be coming out of. However, Claire had been keeping a tab on the minds inside SHIELD, the ones rebelling and the ones killing. When she caught Brock Rumlow's mind and his attack on agents, Claire gasped and paused.

"What's wrong?" Steve asked Claire when she stopped running behind him. Her eyes were blank, her thoughts still inside the building.

"Agh. Rumlow…" Claire gasped out of breath. "Launching. They're launching anyway and-and-Sharon! Go Sharon!" Claire yelled when she heard her fighting back against Brock.

"Come on, we have to keep going!" Steve urged and grabbed Claire's hand to keep her moving.

When they reached the edge Sam yelled out, "Hey Cap, how do we know the good guys from the bad?"

"If they're shooting at you, they're bad." Steve responded. Sam then opened his wings and grabbed Claire's arm tightly as they jumped off the ledge and headed towards the sky.

Sam dropped her off at the "Charlie" helicarrier and headed off to his own. Claire sneakily made her way through the helicarrier to the bottom section, only encountering a few soldiers who were easily apprehended with her gloves. At the control panel where she needed to exchange targeting blades, she sensed she was not alone. She picked up his mind, a tangled web of anger and emotions. She turned to face him.

"Hello Bucky," Claire said calmly despite the tremble in her body.

"There is no Bucky," Bucky seethed through his teeth making Claire flinch.

"Please, calm your mind. I'm just trying to help you."

"You can't help me! You're my mission!" Bucky yelled and then charged towards Claire. Claire's thoughts immediately went to Steve.

"Aw, Steve is gonna be so mad," Claire said aloud and then jumped out of the way milliseconds before Bucky would've hit her. His body slammed into the hub disappointedly and then he locked angry eyes with her. He pulled a large knife from his belt and made a swipe towards her. Claire jumped back and his knife missed her by inches. He let out an angry grunt and then pursued her again.

Their fight was like a well-choreographed dance. Her movements were a fraction of a second ahead of him, his knife missing her flesh by millimeters. Whenever he got frustrated with his blow missing her, she took the opportunity to press the fingertips of her gloves into his flesh and send pulses of electricity through him. He cried out in pain and threw his entire weight at her, sending both of them to the ground. He straddled her figure and fought her hands to the ground. Fear struck across her face when he pulled his knife above her face. Then, something flew through their air and sent the knife out of Bucky's hand.

Claire knew Cap was coming. Of course he wouldn't trust her on her own. She wasn't angry about this. In fact, she was extremely grateful at the moment Steve launched his shield through the air and knocked the knife out of Bucky's hand. She took his moment of shock to knock him in the jaw and scuttle out from under him. Claire's face faded from the Winter Soldier's thoughts and a new face flooded in: Steve. Captain America. His new target. Claire and Steve stood next to each other and stared at Bucky, who had become motionless.

"People are going to die, Buck. I can't let that happen," Steve said seriously. Bucky didn't move, his face didn't change.

"Please don't make me do this," Steve pleaded sadly, Claire looked up at him to see his face torn with despair. But Bucky gave him no choice. Claire was completely forgotten as the two men crashed into each other. Claire took this chance to hop down from the rafters and retrieve the targeting blade she had dropped in her quarrel with Bucky. The fight was even, too even. She flinched every time Bucky's gist met Steve's flesh. She hopped back up the rafters just when Steve had knocked him off.

"I'm glad you're here," Claire said to Steve when they met back up at the hub. Steve didn't respond. Claire made quick work at the hub, pulling out the HYDRA targeting blade and attempting to put in the new one when shots filled the air. Steve let out a sharp gasp as he was hit in the thigh. Another shot and Claire's shoulder filled with fire where a bullet has sliced through the upper part of her arm. Bucky fired a few more times, landing one in Steve's stomach and he fell down in shock.

"Steve!" Claire screamed and touched his face gently.

He looked at her and whispered, "finish it." So Claire put the last targeting blade in and watched the lights turn green.

"Targets locked, ready when you are," Maria said through Claire and Steve's earpiece.

"Maria, don't fire yet. We're still on board, Steve's hurt," Claire pleaded but Steve interrupted her.

"No, Maria. Fire, fire now," Steve said angrily.

"But Cap," Maria started.

"Do it!" He yelled and then pulled himself up. "Claire, it's time for you to get off this ship."

"Not without you," Claire vowed and pulled Steve so that his weight was bearing on her.

"Claire, please," Steve protested and then fell to the ground when the Winter SOldier kicked Claire away from him. She was sent off the rafters and landed hard on her ribs, effectively knocking the wind out of her. She stumbled through the stars for a few moments before wrenching her sore body up. Above her the two men engaged in another fist fight, Steve's injured body swaying back and forth.

The structure around them was beginning to collapse, with one beam managing to take out the rafter holding Steve and Bucky up, sending them both tumbling towards Claire. Bucky was sent under a beam and trapped, while Steve landed close to Claire and went rushing towards her.

"Steve!" She shouted and held onto him tightly.

"You have to get off now, it's not safe," Steve urged again, voice laced with pain.

"No, not without you!" Claire repeated, tears pricking her eyes. Steve looked behind his back at Bucky writhing underneath a beam and left Claire for him, hoping she would just go on her own. But instead, she followed Steve to help him move the beam off of Bucky.

Steve looked back at Claire, handed her his shield, placed a rough kiss on her mouth and pushed her back through an open hole in the floor.

 **A/N: Ok, so I could say I'm sorry, but it literally wouldn't be enough to express how terrible I feel for not updating when I said I would/frequently. I had promised to post this chapter before Civil War came out, except, mild snafu, I ended up seeing Civil War 3 weeks before the general public. So, I kinda screwed myself and then I felt bad and stuff blew out of proportion. Anyway, still so many thank yous to everyone who reviewed, followed, faved, etc. I greatly appreciate your support, I see every email about them and smile and cry a little bit each time. I have posted this chapter and I can't make any promises about the final chapter's timeline, but it will preferably not be 4 months later (so sorry for real). Thank you for reading this, or you know, thanks for ignoring, either way!**


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